NORM DAHLORBass, banjo, guitar, vocals I think I'll just talk about the last 22 years instead of the last 32.Anyway, we'll start when I began playing with Brent Hoad. Brent and I started a band called The Secrets in late '77 or early '78. We truly were the hardest-working band in show biz for about five years (Tommy and Steve might argue this statement...and be right). But in my mind, 200-250 nights a year, on the road mostly, was workin' hard. Well, we kind of ran our course, and I started doing some demos with my friends Shooting Star. We recorded and toured for a couple years and in 1987, broke up (for the first time). I went my own way and started a band with Mike Bliss called Tall Tales. It was fun but didn't last long. About the time we broke up, a friend of mine called from New York and said, "Come audition for Tommy Shaw's band." What the heck...I played with him for the next couple years. In the off time from touring, I played in KC with a band called True Stories, which in my opinion was one of the great bands from home that no one ever heard of. We were all in so many other bands, it just kind of fizzled out. Soon after, I began playing with my old friend from Shooting Star, Chas Waltz. We formed a band with notorious KC boy Guido Toledo and called it Toledo Waltz. Creative differences led Chas and I to LA dragging along Bill Latas and Shawn Poores (later to form Outhouse). Soon it was Chas and I at the drawing table, and we started a band called JudyJudyJudy. I loved that band...all good things... Well, this is about where the Elders began. During J3, Chas would record and play with these great Celtic rockers like Dave King and the Young Dubliners. The music was infectious and timeless. Well, anyway, it infected me. When I moved back to KC with my wife and first daughter, I wanted to play music that those bands had inspired in me. And who better to do it with than my old mates from the great Kansas City rock bands I had grown up with. I'm proud and honored to be playing with them today in the great band, The Elders. |
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